The mobile sector in Oman has become more and more competitive in recent years, due to both the market becoming saturated as well as the rise of MVNOs.

There two mobile network operators (MNO) were awarded 15 year licenses in 2019.

VoIP subscriptions are on the rise in Oman.

Oman has established a progressive mobile sector which has substantial coverage of both 3G and 4G LTE networks. While 5G is not expected to become available until at least 2020; there have been trials already conducted, network upgrades underway and spectrum allocated. In 2019 Omantel announced that its network was 5G ready.

While mobile broadband subscriptions are still in a growth stage; they have declined recently due to changes in the expat population in Oman.

A third mobile network operator (MNO) license was up for tender throughout 2017 and four operators expressed an interest in bidding for the license. However, in October 2017, the government announced the tender process had been cancelled. It was reported the license would be awarded to a local consortium instead and this is expected to be finalised during 2019.

There has also been a recent and renewed push towards improving fixed broadband infrastructure for Oman especially fibre-based networks. The fibre-optic service provider, Asawr, was partially acquired in early 2018 and this will allow for fresh investment in its high-speed network.

As part of it National Broadband Strategy, Oman Broadband Company (OBC) hopes to have all homes and businesses connected to its national broadband infrastructure by 2040.

Oman is well positioned to be a technology hub in the Middle East as it is well located between Asia, Africa and Europe and has access to several submarine cable systems. For these reasons, Equinix, one of the largest data centre operators in the world selected to partner with Omantel in mid-2018 and jointly build a new data centre in Oman.